A broadcast network makes available the content to multiple consumers, typically in synchronous fashion, without being specifically addressed to individual user equipment devices in point-to-point fashion. Examples of broadcast networks include cable and satellite television networks, satellite radio networks, IP networks used for multicasting content and networks used for podcasts or telephony broadcasts/multicasts. The content may also be broadcasted over the airwaves. The content may be consumed by the users in real-time or on a time-shifted basis (e.g., recorded for later playback).
Broadcast network content often includes programming content and informational content. For example, in the case of a television network, the programming content may include news programs, serial television programs, movies, paid programming or other content. The informational content may include advertisements, public service announcements, ad tags, trailers, crawls, weather or emergency notifications and a variety of other content, including both paid and unpaid content.
The broadcast network typically communicates broadband signals and/or other signals to the consumers. In conventional systems, a signal is communicated from a network to a set-top box (STB) located at a consumer's household. The signal is then processed by the STB in order to format data for presentation of the content on the consumer television or other display device enabled with DVB-C reception. The signal source may come from a satellite dish, a coaxial cable (cable television), or a UHF/VHF antenna. Many conventional systems utilize digital video recorders (“DVRs”) to facilitate the recording of the broadband content at the consumer's direction. The conventional DVRs are typically situated within the STB at the consumer's household.
Several efforts have been made in the past to develop STBs adapted to provide value-added services.
WO2008065413 discloses a state-of-art set-top box. The set-top box of WO2008065413 has an electronic program guide and includes means for connecting to the internet for receiving programs and/or data by way of a predetermined website. The means are adapted to receive free view, free satellite channels, pay-per-views channels, and programs from video-on-demand channels provided by way of the internet. The video-on-demand channels may also be accessed from an electronic program guide following input by a user of a personal identification (PIN) number.
WO2012032193 discloses another state-of-art set-top box. The set-top box of WO2012032193 is adapted to decode received media content and provide the media content to a display. The set-top box comprises a communication module for receiving instructions from a remote user over a communication channel and an emulator for emulating the receipt of at least one command at the remote control interface in response to the receipt of an instruction from a remote user by the communications module to issue the at least one command. The set-top box further comprises a video module in which received media content is formatted into the video component of a TV signal, and an image capturing block for capturing at least one image from the video module and transmitting this captured image to the remote user through the communication module, wherein the video module is adapted to provide On Screen Display (OSD) information within the video component.
US Application No. 20050114899 discloses yet another state-of-art digital set-top box which comprises a tuner for receiving a digital broadcasting signal and generating a digital data stream; a demultiplexer for receiving said digital data stream and generating a digital video signal; a MPEG-2 decoder for receiving said digital video signal and generating an interlaced digital video signal; a deinterlace video processor for receiving said interlaced digital video signal and generating a digital RGB signal; wherein said digital video signal can be transmitted to a display via a DVI interface for a user to be watched on said display; and a microprocessor connected to said tuner, said demultiplexer, said MPEG-2 decoder and said deinterlace video processor, for transmitting related data signal to each unit and controlling an operation of each unit.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,337,464 discloses a state-of-art broadcasting system comprising a transmitter for transmitting a signal in a first transmission format; a receiver for receiving said signal; a reformatter for reformatting said received signal into a second transmission format; and a set-top box (STB) for decoding said second-transmission-formatted signal; wherein said STB is further adapted to enter a program identifier (PID) corresponding to a selected program and to provide the PID to said reformatter, and said reformatter is further adapted to receive the PID from the STB and to reformat the signal into the second transmission format based on the determination of a conditional access module.
In the known conventional STB systems the communication/distribution network is purely one-way. That is, the consumers have to watch only the content which is being multi-cast by the service provider. The consumer, at his end, cannot establish a communication between the television set and the service provider through the STB, to request a service or content and receive such specific service or content thereof.
Also, with the increased use of additional types of devices that may be configured to receive the content, such as tablets, mobile devices, and/or personal computers, a service provider has opportunities to provide content to a wide variety of different devices. However, for various reasons, in the past, such content distribution is restricted.
Further, the broadcast networks deliver about 200 to 300 television channels over cable networks, for which, the broadcast network service providers use only about a quarter of the total spectrum available over the broadcast network. The remaining spectrum is unused. If such unused spectrum is utilized, one can deploy many more services on the television set for the user to explore, thereby generating more revenue.
There is therefore felt a need for a cable STB system and architecture thereof which provides a two-way network, allowing real-time interactive, tri-party communication between cable network, cloud based content and the consumer STB, and which will use the said unused spectrum to deploy many more value-added services on the television set, and can be configured to provide content on additional devices like the tablets, mobile devices, and/or personal computers, simultaneously with the television set, through one and the same subscription account.